Ada County lifts gun show ban at Expo Idaho

BOISE– Officials will allow gun shows again at the Boise-area fairgrounds after a ban was imposed following two accidental shootings.

Ada County commissioners on Tuesday adopted a new set of rules allowing the gun shows to return to Expo Idaho and aiming to make the events safer, the Idaho Statesman reported.

The commission banned the events in January 2016 after four people were injured in separate shootings in 2013 and 2015.

In 2013, a person did not realize a round had been left inside the chamber of a handgun and unintentionally fired it. The gunshot caused shrapnel to hit two people.

The county paid a $100,000 settlement and also sued an insurance carrier to recover the money, county officials said.

Expo Idaho raised the liability insurance requirements for gun shows from $1 million to $5 million after the shooting.

In 2015, a vendor fired a bolt-action rifle while attempting to secure the weapon with a plastic zip tie. The bullet struck two people.

The county officials discovered after the shootings that exhibitors did not have the insurance coverage that they thought they had, Ada County Commission Chairman Dave Case said. The county’s high-risk event policies now include independent review of every exhibitor’s insurance policy, he said.

The new rules require that all guns in the sales building to be secured and security must be present at all times.

Prior to the moratorium, county officials said Expo Idaho held five to seven gun shows each year.